


Schoolroom

by thegirlwiththemouseyhair



Category: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:38:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththemouseyhair/pseuds/thegirlwiththemouseyhair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This snippet may have run away from anything in your prompt, but I did try to explore that pre-existing cruelty and self-centeredness in Dorian and how it might have gotten there. From the tantalizing little we hear of his background, he didn’t have much of a family life and may never have had proper empathy modelled for him when he was young. It’s not an excuse, but maybe it’s a bit of one.</p></blockquote>





	Schoolroom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [masterofmidgets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterofmidgets/gifts).



His grandfather was still shouting at him from the landing. _Lord Kelso_ , he thought, _not grandfather_ – already he resented the family relationship between them, such as it was. The old man seldom even spoke to him except when he caught Dorian at some childish infraction and went into a rage, as he had that morning.

Dorian grabbed a book from the book-case and sat down with his back against the large painted chest, hoping to read for a while. But he was still rather dizzy: Lord Kelso had boxed his ears before thrusting him back into the schoolroom. A tear surprised him by rolling down his cheek. He wiped it angrily and sat rigid, straining to listen.

At last the old man finished his tirade. Dorian was too young to find it strange, the way words alone could wound one; for him, this was the most obvious fact in the world – had always been so. He sat in his hiding place, too cold and too frightened to move, and hated his guardian with every nerve in his small body.

Even the servants hated their master. Dorian knew that well enough. They were always leaving, with or without references. Dorian despised them for doing so when he could not leave himself – he wouldn’t even be going away to school for a year or two – but when he could imagine what it might be like to have someone stay and be a friend to him.

It never occurred to him that another, humbler member of the household might suffer as badly as he did, or worse. 

**Author's Note:**

> This snippet may have run away from anything in your prompt, but I did try to explore that pre-existing cruelty and self-centeredness in Dorian and how it might have gotten there. From the tantalizing little we hear of his background, he didn’t have much of a family life and may never have had proper empathy modelled for him when he was young. It’s not an excuse, but maybe it’s a bit of one.


End file.
